KR Meeting Jan 06 Notes

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Observation Ontology

What is the scope of the ontology?

• Trying to define the information/concepts needed to combine or determine the differences/similarities between two datasets

What are the uses?

• Consistency checking
• Data annotation
• Data integration

Definitions

• Observation: An assertion of a characteristic (trait) of some thing (entity).

• Entity: Something that can have a characteristic.

• Trait: The (occurrence of a) characteristic of an entity, but not itself an entity. In the context of the observation ontology, a trait denotes the feature that is being measured or recorded. A trait is synonymous with characteristic, property, feature, etc.

The observation sub-model is a taxonomy of entities (things) that can be observed (e.g., objects, spaces, times), and the specific traits of these entities that recorded (e.g., height, weight, color). In terms of data set integration, the observation sub-model tells us if we are talking about hte same (or similar enough) thing.

• ObservationAbstraction: (Perhaps better named 'Measurement') ...